The Remarkables

Look up. A long wall of grey rock fills the sky to the southeast of the lake. Its top is broken into sharp teeth and points. Snow lies in the high gullies for much of the year. This mountain range is called The Remarkables. It stands over the town and shapes almost every view in Queenstown.

The range runs along the eastern shore of Lake Wakatipu. Unusually, it lies almost straight north to south. Few mountain ranges anywhere in the world line up this cleanly. The name is often explained by this rare alignment. Early surveyors, mapping the new country, are said to have found it remarkable, and so the name stayed.

The highest point is a peak called Double Cone. It stands about two thousand three hundred metres above the sea. Beside it rises a second peak, Single Cone. From the town far below, these summits look close enough to touch. But they are high and cold, and reaching them is a serious climb for experienced people only.

The rock here is hard and grey. Over very long ages, ice and frost have broken the ridge line into jagged shapes. Snow gathers in the shaded hollows and clings to the steep faces. Even at the height of summer, white patches remain high on the range. They sit in the deep places where the sun rarely reaches.

Watch the range at the end of the day. As the sun drops behind you, the grey stone catches the very last of the light. First it turns a warm gold. Then it deepens slowly to orange, and at last to a quiet red. Then the shadow climbs the slope, and the colour fades away into blue.

In winter, the upper slopes become a ski field. A road climbs up from the valley floor in a series of tight, steep bends. At the top, skiers and snowboarders move down the snow beneath the high peaks. The season usually runs from June through into the early spring, when the snow at last begins to soften.

High in the range lies a small lake called Lake Alta. It sits in a bowl carved out by an old glacier, ringed by steep walls of rock. A walking track leads up to it from the ski area. The water is cold and very still. Ice can linger at its edges well into the summer. On a calm day it mirrors the peaks that stand above it.

These mountains have appeared on screen around the world. Their bare slopes stood in for wild, empty country in The Lord of the Rings films. Filmmakers are drawn to the clean, open shapes of the range. From many angles, it looks untouched by roads and by people, much as it must have looked long ago.

The weather here can change very fast. A clear blue sky can give way to thick cloud within the hour. Cold wind pours down off the snow and out across the lake. If you plan to walk in the range, carry warm clothing with you. Watch the sky closely, even on a fine and settled-looking morning.

From the shore of the lake, the range gives the eye a fixed point to return to. People in the town glance up at it all through the day. They read the coming weather from the cloud caught on its peaks. They read the turning season from the line of snow, creeping slowly up or down the bare rock.

Light changes the mountains hour by hour. In the early morning they can look flat and grey and far away. At midday the gullies show their true depth and shadow. In the evening they burn with colour. After dark, on a clear night, their hard outline stands out black against the wide field of stars.

It is worth standing still and simply taking in the size of it. The wall of rock runs on and on along the lake. People look very small beneath it. Cars on the valley road below the range seem to crawl. The mountains pay them no attention. They keep their own slow time, measured in seasons and in ages.

Find a place by the water and look up one more time. The range does not move. It has stood here far longer than the town, longer than any story ever told about it. Whatever your day has held, the mountains hold the edge of the sky. They stand steady and quiet above the lake, as the light slowly goes.